The following day we descended from the airy reaches of Sharn's towers and headed to its port that serviced traffic on The Hilt. A for more pleasant journey than our previous forays through the fecal coated sewer systems when we had to enter the lower levels of Sharn. During our journey, though, the group learned that we were being watched. The press of people on the thoroughfare kept me from charging after our spying friends, whoever they were, and they had disappeared down a side alley. Resigning myself to the fact that we wouldn't be able to deal with them right now, we headed to our boat's slip, and boarded.
After setting out on our voyage that day, we relaxed. I particularly enjoyed the trip as it was the first time I had been on a water vessel since the Last War. Nothing scares - no, scratch that - concerns me more than falling into the water and having to seriously concern myself with the threat of drowning or being eaten alive. Who knows what beasts lurk in the depths of the aquatic abyss? As it was, our ship was serving as a cargo hauler and diplomatic transport, as several emissaries and noble family members were occupying the other available cabins on board.
On the second day, I headed to the stern of the ship to practice with my spear. Despite the seemingly tranquil trip I had learned my lessons all too well in a hard school and wanted maintain my skills. Towards the end of my session I heard mutterings coming from amidships where a crowd of passengers and crew were gawking at a shiver of sharks seemed to be swimming alongside the boat. They were bursting from the water in explosions of foam and almost seemed to be behaving like dolphins. Kaellana was nearby so I assumed she must have been communing with the creatures, or even controlling them. Noticing the group of spectators I realized I could probably use the diplomats and nobles to spread the tales of my acrobatics skills by bursting into an impromptu tumbling routine.
Needless to say, I was successful and rewarded with two whole gold pieces for a trifle of effort on my part. Meanwhile, I think Aramel had headed to the stern of the boat and was discharging magical energies into the sea for fun while Arad tried to start some sort of diplomatic incident with one of the other passengers by assuming someone's visage. More importantly than what they had gotten themselves into, I had been approached by middle aged gnomish lady and invited to her room later on in the evening for a further display of my skills. Knowing that the group was surely being hounded for our involvement with the Cannith didn't detract from my desire to entertain myself so I took her up on her offer.
Later that night I want to her chamber wearing my tumbling costume (skin tight and maroon with silver piping) and performed a few more of my routines, delighting her with my strength and flexibility. When she moved from her cabin's couch to her bed I knew things would be moving apace and wasted no time and delving further into my repertoire.
A satisfying time later we parted company, but before we did she pressed a small ring into my hands telling me that if I was in need of help, I should approach her family's house, Ixango, for assistance.Her boon had been completely unexpected but I recognized that it was simply my warblade appeal at work that had allowed me to amaze her so.
The following day would have been of no importance save for a singularly strange occurrence. I was walking along the deck on a constitutional when out of the blue, an octopus plopped down on my head! I quickly disengaged the wet creature and tossed it into the sea, but not before catching a glimpse of Kaellana glaring at me from down the deck. Realizing I had seen her, she spun around and ran off. It was truly bizarre behavior but the more I think about it, she must have summoned that creature onto my head for some reason, though what her motivations are elude me as she rarely speaks to me in any detail. I ignored the event as a random occurrence, after all she was a woman. And an elf.
The last night on board the ship should have been peaceful but we were awoken by a blood curdling cry. Leaping to arms we burst forth from our room, well save Aramel who was assisting his crusader companion with donning his armor, to be confronted by a swarm of skeletal fiends. Leaping into the fray we pulverized bone while Arad managed to assume command of two of the reanimations. Kaellana called upon her animal friends and with all of our attacks combined, we managed to defeat the skeletons. Rushing above deck we found the on watch deckhand slain, his blood spreading in a black pool under the moon's glow. We then eventually managed to awaken the captain who seemed oblivious to the entire attack, somehow our party had been the only ones to realize anything had been awry. Explaining the situation tersely, we showed the captain where the creatures had been fought, and where they had come from. Using quick thinking, Arad made his two skeletons lie on the floor as if they had been killed. Later on once we had the cabin to ourselves, we placed the skeletons in my bag of holding for when they might be needed later.
With our captain's assurance that a double watch would be set, we settled in for the remainder of the night as we floated to port, and the beginning of our next adventure.
-A.N.-
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Year 2 - Day 1
It'd been more than a year since our group's glories in the subterranean bowels of Sharn but we found ourselves in the city of towers once more. We'd been working together on and off throughout the year, primarily for Lady E, our House Cannith connection, but we followed our own desires during the off times. For me that meant finding a job that paid me to get into fights, which I always won, of course. I'd also been able to get some practice in on my acrobatics maneuvers throughout the year so that I could pull in a few more gold pieces here and there. Everything helps after all, and if word of my exploits was spread by whispers of my acrobatics feats or combat prowess, then who was I to complain.
On that average day in Sharn, meaning it was pouring of course, we met up and headed over to the message post to see if lady E had left us word of any work. After our sewer venture last year we had suffered some mishaps. Rasnian, Alric, and Tam had all died shortly after our triumphant return with the schema which, I suppose, was a sad event, but I hadn't gotten to know them very well. It must have been especially tough for Aramel in losing a brother, but for an elf he doesn't say much so I don't know how he feels about the situation.
On our way to the post I looked over my other three companions. Kaellana had definitely become more accustomed to displays of overt civilization, such as Sharn's towers, but I knew as one of her core beliefs that she hated all such vestiges with a passion. Why she put up with the surroundings I didn't quite understand, but she had been a valuable ally so I overlooked the inconsistency. Tara looked as happy as she always did when her thick arctic fur was completely soaked by the falling rain, but padded along silently nonetheless. Arad, the Traveller cleric, had eventually revealed that he was actually a changeling only recently. At first I had been suspicious and angry that he had hid his true self from us, but I grudgingly accepted his motives. His type is never really given much of a chance anywhere given their, frankly, unique appearance and the fact that they can change their appearance at will. If we had known what he was from the beginning would we have still treated him the same way? Probably not, and he too had proved to be a valuable ally.
I trusted these four more than anyone else I had met during my life, which was saying a lot, but it probably stemmed from the fact that we had all helped each other survive some pretty tense situations. As we finally got close enough to see the message post through the pouring rain I realized we were probably about to head into another. The front door had been torn off a hinge and hung askew so we readied weapons and magic as we prepared to enter the shop. There were no foes that we could see, but the carefully arranged message scrolls and shelves had been scattered and toppled in some sort of struggle. Ink footprints were scattered about the few exposed portions of the floor but whoever had done the ransacking had clearly departed. A groan from behind the counter revealed an injured female store attendant who had survived the attack and through some quick healing and questioning we learned that the attackers had arrived shortly after a message meant for us had been delivered to the store.
Intriguing.
We tried to follow the trail of the attackers, but the fierce Sharn rain had washed away any scent for Tara to follow. Soon after losing the trail, though, what had to have been some sort of magical owl delivered a sealed metallic tube to us. We questioned the message post attendant and resigned ourselves to the fact that the only way to determine the tube's contents was to open it, what a shock. Inside lay a message from Lady E, warning us that the normal means of communication were being watched and that she was being pursued. We hurried to the assigned meeting place, a halfling establishment on a lower level we had frequented last year, and found Lady E sitting alone at a table in the dark interior. Before we were given a chance to receive and explanation, a group that resembled the message post's attackers barged in and demanded the backpack Lady E had been in the process of giving us.
I shook my head as Lady E vanished and turned to face our foes. She always seemed to get us into the most interesting kinds of trouble, but that always meant we 'd have more foes to kill. Chuckling I turned to view the interlopers, a small horde of kobolds lead by a warforged. This brought back memories of our journey to retrieve the schema but for now I relished the possibility of combat. Muttering an activation phrase, my spear head became coated in an acidic coating that would be deadly to the enemies I struck. The kobolds mindlessly charged in and the spears reach allowed me to dispatch some of them before they managed to reach us. My compatriots added their own efforts and after but a few moments, the first horde had been decimated. A second group charged through the door and Aramel unleashed a fireball into their midst, crisping their bodies nicely as they fell to the floor in death. The warforged and a few of his kobolds remained, but we could only laugh at their audacity. Had they really thought that they could take us down? We'll never know I suppose.
Turning to the contents of Lady E's backpack, we found some money and instructions. After we left the only slightly signed halfling establishment we found that the only way to reach Rhukaan Draal, capitol of Darguun, was by ship.
Whoowee, we're goin' on a boat ride!
~ A.N.
On that average day in Sharn, meaning it was pouring of course, we met up and headed over to the message post to see if lady E had left us word of any work. After our sewer venture last year we had suffered some mishaps. Rasnian, Alric, and Tam had all died shortly after our triumphant return with the schema which, I suppose, was a sad event, but I hadn't gotten to know them very well. It must have been especially tough for Aramel in losing a brother, but for an elf he doesn't say much so I don't know how he feels about the situation.
On our way to the post I looked over my other three companions. Kaellana had definitely become more accustomed to displays of overt civilization, such as Sharn's towers, but I knew as one of her core beliefs that she hated all such vestiges with a passion. Why she put up with the surroundings I didn't quite understand, but she had been a valuable ally so I overlooked the inconsistency. Tara looked as happy as she always did when her thick arctic fur was completely soaked by the falling rain, but padded along silently nonetheless. Arad, the Traveller cleric, had eventually revealed that he was actually a changeling only recently. At first I had been suspicious and angry that he had hid his true self from us, but I grudgingly accepted his motives. His type is never really given much of a chance anywhere given their, frankly, unique appearance and the fact that they can change their appearance at will. If we had known what he was from the beginning would we have still treated him the same way? Probably not, and he too had proved to be a valuable ally.
I trusted these four more than anyone else I had met during my life, which was saying a lot, but it probably stemmed from the fact that we had all helped each other survive some pretty tense situations. As we finally got close enough to see the message post through the pouring rain I realized we were probably about to head into another. The front door had been torn off a hinge and hung askew so we readied weapons and magic as we prepared to enter the shop. There were no foes that we could see, but the carefully arranged message scrolls and shelves had been scattered and toppled in some sort of struggle. Ink footprints were scattered about the few exposed portions of the floor but whoever had done the ransacking had clearly departed. A groan from behind the counter revealed an injured female store attendant who had survived the attack and through some quick healing and questioning we learned that the attackers had arrived shortly after a message meant for us had been delivered to the store.
Intriguing.
We tried to follow the trail of the attackers, but the fierce Sharn rain had washed away any scent for Tara to follow. Soon after losing the trail, though, what had to have been some sort of magical owl delivered a sealed metallic tube to us. We questioned the message post attendant and resigned ourselves to the fact that the only way to determine the tube's contents was to open it, what a shock. Inside lay a message from Lady E, warning us that the normal means of communication were being watched and that she was being pursued. We hurried to the assigned meeting place, a halfling establishment on a lower level we had frequented last year, and found Lady E sitting alone at a table in the dark interior. Before we were given a chance to receive and explanation, a group that resembled the message post's attackers barged in and demanded the backpack Lady E had been in the process of giving us.
I shook my head as Lady E vanished and turned to face our foes. She always seemed to get us into the most interesting kinds of trouble, but that always meant we 'd have more foes to kill. Chuckling I turned to view the interlopers, a small horde of kobolds lead by a warforged. This brought back memories of our journey to retrieve the schema but for now I relished the possibility of combat. Muttering an activation phrase, my spear head became coated in an acidic coating that would be deadly to the enemies I struck. The kobolds mindlessly charged in and the spears reach allowed me to dispatch some of them before they managed to reach us. My compatriots added their own efforts and after but a few moments, the first horde had been decimated. A second group charged through the door and Aramel unleashed a fireball into their midst, crisping their bodies nicely as they fell to the floor in death. The warforged and a few of his kobolds remained, but we could only laugh at their audacity. Had they really thought that they could take us down? We'll never know I suppose.
Turning to the contents of Lady E's backpack, we found some money and instructions. After we left the only slightly signed halfling establishment we found that the only way to reach Rhukaan Draal, capitol of Darguun, was by ship.
Whoowee, we're goin' on a boat ride!
~ A.N.
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